According toÂ United Nations report, nearly 90 percent of the population in Kathmandu and its neighboring communities donâ€™t have access to health clinics, schools, storefronts and housing. Medical workers, rescue teams, food, water, shelter and telecommunications areÂ No. 1Â concerns at the moment, but as time goes on, the U.N. also warns of impending security and communication concerns that could exacerbate those needs, as hundreds of thousands of families are displaced without power. The need for energy to provide lighting at night, charges for cell phones to contact loved ones, and coordinate relief efforts and logistics couldnâ€™t be greater. Because Nepalese locals and relief groups need reliable energy sources,Â Greenlight PlanetÂ is teaming up withÂ World VisionÂ to bring light and energy to thousands in Nepal. â€œA large number of people lose their homes, and even if they have a home, a significant number lose power,â€ explains Suvodeep Das, director of marketing at Greenlight Planet â€” a company that provides solar energy and lighting for rural communities. No lighting at night also puts women in danger of gender-based violence and human trafficking, according to the U.N. report. Humanitarian groups need easily-deployed, clean and reliable energy to operate where there is little to no infrastructure. â€œWhat is also really important is that a lot of people have loved ones, family, friends and relatives who live somewhere else, and thereâ€™s no way to get in touch with them because cell phones canâ€™t be charged,â€ says Das, recognizing that cell phones are being used for more than logistical and rescue purposes inside the disaster. Cell phone and Internet companies areÂ offering services for free or at a discountÂ to support concerned families and stakeholders on a global level. Das explains that relief workers are often the first to use Greenlightâ€™sÂ Sun KingÂ (pictured above) â€” a solar-powered lantern with a mobile phone charger â€” in disaster responses, because their main concerns are first-order needs, like food and water, then blankets and shelter. So, in order to give solar energy to locals in the area, the companyÂ partnered with World Vision to create aÂ Help Power Nepal crowd funding campaignÂ that usesÂ 100 percent of the funds raised to give solar lights to families in need. â€œWeâ€™re putting our logistical muscle in the region to work to get these to relief workers at World Vision efficiently and quickly,â€ says Anish Thakkar, CEO of Greenlight. â€œAnd theyâ€™ll ensure donated...

SunFarmerÂ wasÂ already in NepalÂ when disaster struck in April. Now the energy nonprofit is doubling down on rebuilding theÂ earthquake-ravaged country. SunFarmerÂ has created aÂ Relief and Reconstruction FundÂ to help provide resources â€”Â especially electricity â€”Â to the areaâ€™s most impacted by the two earthquakes that hit Nepal in April andÂ May. Together, the quakes claimed over 9,000 lives. â€œThere were 1,100 health clinics destroyed in the earthquakes and they are going to be rebuilt,â€ said SunFarmer Director of Marketing and DevelopmentÂ Amanda Eller.Â â€œSome of them didnâ€™t have electricity to begin with, but the electricity really transforms the kind of healthcare they can provide.â€ The relief work in NepalÂ fits closely with SunFarmerâ€™s overall mission: providingÂ solar-powerÂ solutionsÂ in developing countries, specifically for hospitals, schools and small businesses. Over the past four weeks, SunFarmer has focused on fundraising, collecting donations, bringing in goods from China and India and working withÂ various Nepalese partners, Eller said. As of now, SunFarmerâ€™s main focus is to provide water and electricity, but itsÂ long-term goal revolves around improving the healthcare system. The organization, whichÂ has locations in Toronto, Brooklyn and Nepal, is planning to add another developing country soon. But for now, Eller says the focus is on Nepal. â€œWeâ€™ll choose our next country on where we can have long-term impact and not just where a disaster happens,â€ she said. â€œWe are planning on staying in Southeast Asia because we already have such a strong engineering team in Kathmandu and we want to be closer to them.â€ Additionally, SunFarmer is working on a monitoring device called Energy X. It can track information remotely to determine how much electricity is being generated, giving SunFarmer the ability to â€œreachâ€ areas that arenâ€™t easily accessible. â€œIt transmits data via SMS like a text,â€ Eller said of the device, whichÂ wonÂ National Geographicâ€™sÂ 2015 Great Energy Challenge. â€œIn developing countries, everyone has cellphones now and SMS networks are very developed.â€ Originally from Technically...

According toÂ United Nations report, nearly 90 percent of the population in Kathmandu and its neighboring communities donâ€™t have access to health clinics, schools, storefronts and housing. Medical workers, rescue teams, food, water, shelter and telecommunications areÂ No. 1Â concerns at the moment, but as time goes on, the U.N. also warns of impending security and communication concerns that could exacerbate those needs, as hundreds...

SunFarmerÂ wasÂ already in NepalÂ when disaster struck in April. Now the energy nonprofit is doubling down on rebuilding theÂ earthquake-ravaged country. SunFarmerÂ has created aÂ Relief and Reconstruction FundÂ to help provide resources â€”Â especially electricity â€”Â to the areaâ€™s most impacted by the two earthquakes that hit Nepal in April andÂ May. Together, the quakes claimed over 9,000 lives. â€œThere were 1,100 health...